MetricSign
EN|NLRequest Access
High severitydata source

Power BI Refresh Error:
UserErrorFailedToConnectOdbcSource

What does this error mean?

ADF failed to connect to the ODBC data source — the driver is not installed, the DSN is misconfigured, or connectivity is blocked.

Common causes

  • 1The ODBC driver for the target database is not installed on the self-hosted integration runtime machine
  • 2The DSN (Data Source Name) or connection string in the linked service is incorrect
  • 3Network connectivity between the SHIR and the ODBC source is blocked by a firewall
  • 4The ODBC user credentials are incorrect or expired

How to fix it

  1. 1Verify the ODBC driver is installed on the self-hosted IR machine using the ODBC Data Source Administrator (odbcad32.exe).
  2. 2Test the DSN connection using the ODBC Data Source Administrator on the IR machine.
  3. 3Confirm the connection string or DSN in the ADF linked service matches the installed ODBC driver name.
  4. 4Test network connectivity from the IR machine to the ODBC source host on the correct port.

Frequently asked questions

Does this error affect all pipeline runs or just the current one?

Depends on the root cause. A persistent misconfiguration fails every run; a transient issue may resolve on retry. Check the run history.

Can this error appear in Azure Data Factory and Microsoft Fabric pipelines?

Yes — the same connector errors appear in both ADF and Fabric Data Factory pipelines.

How do I see the full error detail for an ADF pipeline failure?

In ADF Monitor, click the failed run, then the failed activity. The detail pane shows the error code, message, and sub-error codes.

Will downstream Power BI datasets be affected when an ADF pipeline fails?

Yes — a dataset refreshing after the pipeline will use stale data or fail if the target table was cleared. The Power BI refresh may succeed while serving wrong data.

Official documentation: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/data-factory/connector-troubleshoot-oracle

Other data source errors